A biscuit made using artificial intelligence?

Pubblicato in data 21 febbraio, 2018

It had to be Google. No one else would have thought of making a biscuit using artificial intelligence. One of the most powerful multinational companies, which uses complex algorithms that enable their search engines to think like people. Why wouldn’t they want to spend time making bakery products?

How does artificial intelligence function?

Although artificial intelligence agents do not yet possess brains or capabilities like those of people, they are capable of developing complex projects using learning techniques very similar to ours. The Google algorithms that give the experts in SEO such a testing time exist to improve the user experience. They do this by analysing behaviours and identifying the real needs of each person who types a few words in the search box. This is because they have previously created a database that contains search words and user reactions. Thus, by studying our behaviour, artificial intelligence is able to predict how we will behave.

This is how Google itself has ended up using artificial intelligence to produce a biscuit.

The biscuit made using artificial intelligence

Like any bakery, Google had the basic items needed to bake a biscuit. Vanilla, chocolate, flour, sugar and butter. All of them are common natural ingredients. Let’s not forget that we are talking about a biscuit made using artificial intelligence.

First, the artificial intelligence agent learned about those ingredients and what effect they have on that biscuit. A scientist introduced the necessary data into the device. Thus, it learned that the more sugar the sweeter the taste, among other things.

The same team of people entered the baking parameters of the biscuit into the device: quantities, time the dough should be left to rise, baking time, and so on. And with this data the first biscuit made using artificial intelligence was obtained. However, this was only the first step.

From then on, the device, the artificially intelligent cook, relied on the observations of a control group that tested the biscuits. The device learned from what the consumers thought of its biscuit and altered the recipe. Over and over again until the biscuit achieved the highest rating.

Is this biscuit different?

When we talk about machines that perform human tasks, it is impossible not to ask this question. Both types of biscuit are made with the same ingredients. The biscuits made by artificial intelligence will always be exactly the same. The biscuits made by human master chefs will never be identical. Human activity always finds room for improvisation. What’s more, we are not previously programmed. We can make mistakes or introduce slight involuntary variations. The charm of traditional cuisine lies precisely in that touch of imperfection that links food directly with the emotions.